


The Clumsy Ranchhand

by Burgie



Series: SSO Wild West AU [11]
Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: F/F, Wild West AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-06-01 00:18:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15130919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Louisa injures herself on the job and needs medical attention. The story of how Lisa and Louisa first met.





	The Clumsy Ranchhand

The sun beat down hard on Louisa as she squinted to see the horse in front of her. Normally, this was a fairly easy task, lunging one of the horses, but the sun was glaringly bright on the white sand and the light grey coat of the horse. Sure, Bartok was in a rare state of being clean (Loretta insisted on her horse always being in pristine condition, just in case Justin should come by and see), but man, it made him hard to see. Even if she wore a hat, Louisa knew that she wouldn’t be able to see him properly. She knew because she’d tried that.

Today was just… harder than usual. Sweat dripped down her face, plastering her hair to her forehead and neck, leaving great wet patches beneath her arms. Louisa stepped back for a moment, panting as she mopped sweat from her brow with her sleeve. Bartok gave an annoyed nicker, pulling at the lunge line.

“Stay still,” said Louisa, glancing around for the water bucket. She was so thirsty that she was actually beginning to consider just dunking her head in the water trough. But someone might see, might make fun of her, so she didn’t. Besides, who knew what the horses did in there. Some of them could be downright cheeky. With no water located, Louisa sighed and decided to just finish lunging this horse. It’d be fine. Even though she was so thirsty.

Somehow, possibly through sheer fear of Loretta alone, Louisa was able to lunge Bartok for a further thirty minutes. By the time she was done, both horse and trainer were covered in sweat and exhausted.

“Alright, boy, good job,” said Louisa as she unclipped the lunge line and clipped the lead rope to his bridle instead. “Time to turn you out into the paddock, I guess.” Bartok’s head hung low and his hooves dragged as he followed Louisa out into the paddock. Even his tail was down, an unusual sight on the dressage horse. Though dressage itself was unusual in this western-oriented town, but Loretta always had to be different.

Ordinarily, the paddock at the Moorland ranch was full of luscious greenery that the horses could enjoy, whether to graze or to just roll or run around. But lately, all of that greenery had gone. It was a long, hot summer, the township of New Jorvik deep in the grip of a drought. Dust puffed up around Bartok’s hooves, no doubt ruining the cleaning job that Louisa had done on him earlier that morning. Before it had gotten so hot.

“There you go,” said Louisa, taking his bridle off and giving the horse free rein of the paddock. She yawned as she walked back over to the gate, closing it behind her. With that arduous (and thankless) task done, Louisa could finally return to the main ranch, where she knew that ice-cold water or lemonade awaited her. Her mouth felt even drier just at the thought, and she hurried her steps.

She didn’t see the hole. One moment she was upright and walking, the next, she was sprawled on the ground on her face with her ankle throbbing up a storm.

“Ow,” Louisa muttered, frowning at her ankle and then at the hole. She got to her knees, which also ached. She was glad that she didn’t have eyeglasses now, she would’ve ruined them for sure with that fall. But when she tried to get her feet under herself, she gasped. What had been a throbbing pain now became a sharp pain, shooting up from her ankle. She couldn’t move.

“Help!” Louisa screamed, trying not to move her ankle too much as she sat up. She grit her teeth, hissing air out through them.

Finally, she heard footsteps rapidly approaching. Human footsteps, thankfully. If a horse suddenly came galloping around the corner, she’d be gone. But it was only Justin. Any other girl would have swooned, but Louisa only grinned gratefully at him.

“Justin! Praise Aideen you’re here,” said Louisa, trying to rise but only resulting in jostling her injured ankle and sending another wash of pain up her leg. “Ow, that really hurts.” Tears came easily to Louisa, far too easily, but they only stayed in the corners of her eyes this time.

“Louisa, what happened?” asked Justin, kneeling in the dirt in front of her. “Is it your ankle?” He looked down at it, and Louisa nodded.

“Yeah, I fell over,” said Louisa. “I guess I tripped in a hole. I’m so clumsy.” Now, she actually had to try hard not to cry. She felt so stupid, tripping in a darn little hole.

“Hey, better you than Mrs Holdsworth. Or Loretta,” said Justin, glancing at the hole. “Yikes, that might’ve lamed a horse.”

“Might’ve lamed me, yet,” said Louisa, glad that Justin was trying to take her mind off of her pain. It was sort of working.

“Let’s let the doc be the boss of that,” said Justin. “Don’t worry, Loretta’s busy with something else, she won’t see me carrying you. I’ll just carry you to the wagon and take you into town.”

“Thank you,” said Louisa, trying to hold her ankle still while Justin stood up and then bent to scoop her up. He was strong, far stronger than she’d expected him to be. But it had no effect on her, of course, not the same effect that a strong girl would have.

“Have you ever been to the doc here before?” asked Justin after setting her down in the wagon and sitting up the front.

“No, never,” said Louisa, shaking her head. “I can get any medicine from the ranch house, and I’ve not broken a bone or gotten terribly ill while I’ve been here.”

“Well then, you might be in for a surprise,” said Justin, gently clicking the horses into a trot. Thankfully, it didn’t jostle Louisa’s ankle too much. She could feel it swelling up in her boot, though, and wondered if she should take it off. Perhaps she should have, but she wasn’t too familiar with injuries. Clumsy though she may be sometimes.

“Why is that?” asked Louisa. “Is he… odd?” Justin laughed.

“I’ll let you be the judge of that when you meet her,” said Justin.

“Oh,” said Louisa, blushing. Getting treated by a female doctor wasn’t something that she’d expected, but perhaps the doctor was elderly. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so humiliating, to have to admit to a pretty girl that she’d tripped and fallen flat on her face.

“Here we are,” said Justin at last when they arrived outside of a building with a red cross painted above the double doors. “It’s probably going to look a bit dramatic, me carrying you in like this, but we can explain everything.”

Louisa tried not to feel too nervous as Justin carried her in through the swinging double doors. The room was rather white, and smelled strongly of medicinal herbs. It smelled rather like Mrs Holdsworth’s place had when Louisa had gone to her for relief from monthly pain. The old woman often joked that she could make herself a millionaire selling her remedies, especially on this ranch popular with young women.

“Nurse Lisa!” Justin called. “We’ve got a bit of an emergency.”

“What is it?” a southern voice drawled. Louisa felt her heart quicken as a red-haired young woman appeared, wearing a white nurse’s uniform over dusty, torn jeans. She even wore regular cowgirl boots, which Louisa only saw because she couldn’t bring herself to meet those beautiful green eyes. “Oh my, what happened?”

“Nothing too serious,” said Justin with a laugh. Louisa wondered if Justin could feel her heartbeat the same way she could feel his laugh. “She just twisted her ankle in a hole. But you’re the doctor, maybe it’s not what I think it is at all.”

“Bring her into the examination room,” said Lisa. “I’ll take a look at her. Are you her friend or…?”

“Just her friend,” said Justin as he carried her into another room. “She’s interested in the ladies.” If Louisa could’ve spoken, could’ve moved at all, she would have kicked Justin and chastised him for trying to set her up with someone.

“Justin, this is serious,” said Lisa. “Though I thank you for thinking of me. Just put her down here.” And suddenly, Louisa was alone, sitting trembling on a table in the middle of another sterile white room. Lisa stood in front of her, Justin beside her.

“I’ll leave you two alone,” said Justin, giving a wink as he left the room.

“So, what happened?” asked Lisa, turning to her patient. Somehow, Louisa managed to find her tongue, mostly by looking anywhere but at Lisa. Justin hadn’t warned her that her doctor would be so… attractive. And here she was, dripping with sweat and stinking to high heaven.

“It’s like he said,” said Louisa, glad that her voice didn’t shake like her hands were. “I tripped in a hole and twisted my ankle.”

“Hmm,” Lisa hummed thoughtfully. She bent down, tugging off Louisa’s boot. Louisa gasped, but the boot came off easily. So did the sock, though it hurt to have Lisa’s fingers moving over her tender ankle. Louisa closed her eyes, wincing against the pain. “How bad is the pain, with one being you can’t feel it, which obviously you can, and ten being so bad you can’t move it?”

“Uh… I guess an eight?” said Louisa. “It hurts when I move it, but mostly it just… throbs. It’s fine if I don’t move it, though.”

“It doesn’t sound like it’s broken, then,” said Lisa. “Hopefully, it’s just a sprain. Now, I’m more concerned about the pallor and feel of your skin.”

“What does that mean?” asked Louisa, scared now. “Is it bad?” Lisa smiled, and Louisa instantly regretted looking at her. She was blushing far too much, she could feel it.

“You’re dehydrated,” said Lisa, pinching the skin on the back of Louisa’s hand. Louisa gasped, but noted that the skin there remained white for a little while. “How much water have you had to drink today?”

“Not enough,” said Louisa. “I know. I was heading inside to get some when this happened.” She gestured to her ankle. Lisa clicked her tongue.

“That’s no good,” said Lisa, turning and walking over to a small basin and faucet that was usually used for washing Lisa’s hands. She grabbed a glass and filled it with water from the tap before returning to Louisa with it. “Here. Drink.”

“Thank you,” said Louisa, gratefully doing so. It wasn’t cold, only water from a tap, but to Louisa, it was amazing. Lisa smiled, refilling the glass for her. Louisa drank this too.

“Hey, I’m a doctor, it’s my job to treat the sick and wounded,” said Lisa. “And to heal them, if I’m doing my job right.” Louisa smiled.

“I’ll probably be off work duties for a while,” said Louisa. “Which sucks. They need me there.”

“Well then, the others will just have to pull their weight while you’re not around,” said Lisa. “There are plenty of girls just dying for a spot on the ranch, you know.”

“And others who work there,” said Louisa. “Loretta might have to get her hands dirty. I can just hear her screaming now.” Lisa laughed, and Louisa was surprised to find just how comfortable she felt in Lisa’s presence already. It was like she’d known her for years.

“So, hey, you have a different accent,” said Lisa, leaning with her back against the sink while Louisa nursed her third glass of water. “Not from around here, huh?”

“I migrated here from Australia,” said Louisa. “I thought I’d try my luck ranching, try to get away from the stain of my family’s convict roots.” Lisa nodded.

“You could be a teacher, with that fancy language,” said Lisa.

“Yes, only my eyes aren’t up to the task,” said Louisa. “And nor are my nerves.”

“I noticed that,” said Lisa. “But I thought it was just from being around me. Not to get too cocky or anything, but.”

“It is,” said Louisa. “Partly. I’d be nervous around any new person, but very few render me speechless.” Lisa smiled, her eyes lighting up.

“You know, since you can’t walk on that ankle, maybe I should keep you here,” said Lisa. “You know, for observation. I need to keep an eye on it, after all.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” said Louisa, her heart still thumping. “You should let Justin know.”

“I will,” said Lisa. “Will you be alright in here for a while?”

“Not like I can go anywhere,” said Louisa, gesturing to her ankle. Lisa smirked and left the room, leaving Louisa to quietly freak out.

She’d just been flirted with by a girl. One who wasn’t looking for her money, or her body, or anything. A very pretty girl, at that. And it made her heart leap with glee. Even as it made her body tremble. Maybe… maybe New Jorvik had something to offer other than horses, after all. Like a young doctor with hair like fire, eyes like emeralds. A doctor who was definitely more than met the eye.


End file.
